


Sine Nomine

by DeltaX



Series: River and Sword [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Background Character Death, Disney References, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Musical References, Not Beta Read, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, References to Depression, Temporary Character Death, We Die Like Men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29124882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeltaX/pseuds/DeltaX
Summary: This is a story of a young boy with big dreams who never had the time in life to achieve them. The name of our protagonist does not matter in the end, all that does is the legend he left behind. Even if his name did hold importance, it was lost to time. We of the Fraonia and Angonia races simply call him Veni. He always preferred to keep his real name hidden even before history unceremoniously threw it away, Veni found amusement in watching others theorise over his identity.Most say he did not exist, just as others believe the opposite. Even back within the times of his journey. Whichever category you slot into, I hope you enjoy taking this adventure with him just as much as I.  For now, let’s start at the beginning.
Series: River and Sword [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137086





	Sine Nomine

**Author's Note:**

> Another original story, another promise I can't keep. 
> 
> Let's hope I actually update this every once in a while

The air turned black all around him, icy finger-like branches swiping at his arm in the darkness. Wandering through the graveyard, it felt like something was watching him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he almost swore he could see thousands of blinking red eyes staring back.

"A graveyard, huh? Couldn't be any more cliché?" The young teen had said that about a month ago, now he wished it were somewhere else. This place felt so real yet so fake at the same time. The gravestones that almost seemed to be closing in on him looked hundreds of years old with engraved symbols, yet a closer look made them appear like cardboard coloured in badly with crayon. The grass initially felt soft underfoot, but moving a single step made the blades feel like razors cutting deep into his skin. The trees that towered over the entire area stiff and never swaying in the cold wind. Veni felt homesick just looking at them, wishing that he'd maybe wake up from whatever horrible nightmare this was and get even a glimpse of the dancing flowers that bloomed beneath the large oak trees just outside his small village.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Every day he screamed into the never-ending night sky his words would be swallowed up by the inky black that was slowly advancing closer, limiting what little space he already had.

"...please?"

After a while, he came to recognise the place where he had left the world. His world at least. It seemed that this was a different plane of existence from the one he had grown up in. Veni knew it was familiar, but he really didn’t know where anything was. Things felt distorted, all over the place. He could barely figure out which way was up, and which way was down. Gravity could be the opposite here, and Veni would have no idea.

He was lost, that much was true, but for some reason, he wasn't afraid. He had been ready for death to take him then and was ready now. He just hoped the jerk would hurry up already.

*******

Sometimes he would walk past pools of water, staring into them for long enough made them reflect memories floating through his head. Sometimes Veni would see the silhouette of his mother, typically she would be cooking or doing housework, but he didn’t care. Seeing her again after what felt like ages was like his favourite candy had materialised in his mouth leaving a sweet taste on his tongue. The aftertaste, however, became ever sour the longer he gazed at her. Veni loved his family, even when they were annoying, but just seeing her smiling face made too many memories he would rather not think about resurface to the front of his mind. When he couldn’t handle the emotions anymore, he would move on to the next pool.

The next one he moved to shimmered brightly, fading into how he remembered his 10th birthday. Usually, this memory is accompanied by his distaste for how naïve he was back then, but Veni found he was oddly numb whilst staring at it. It didn’t bother him anymore how dumb he was to believe people would actually show up, nor how his optimism faded slowly when he had to sit at a big table, set for maybe 20 people, all alone for hours until his dad finally dragged him away.

He remembered crying, but not much else. His brothers made him feel better though. Once they got home from high school and day-care, they sat with him in his room and they all binge-watched his favourite shows with chocolate and buttered popcorn under fifty blankets.

That was probably the only good part of that day.

The only thing that bothered Veni, was how perfect he had made everything. Readjusting paper plates and plastic cutlery to his liking, neatly folding napkins and placing them down carefully so they didn’t get creased, you name it. He even has snippets left of himself helping to bake the cake and food. But it was all for nothing. He originally thought he was angry at who he had once called his friends, but now he knew the truth. Veni was only angry at himself. He couldn’t blame the other kids for not wanting to show up, he couldn’t blame his parents for letting it happen. It was all on him. If Veni hadn’t of been so strange, if he had only been normal, he would have had friends. Enough to fill up that big table that was there on his 10th birthday, enough to take up an entire floor. Enough to fill a whole two-storied house.

…Or so he believed. Maybe he just got it wrong in high school, maybe Veni didn’t really know what being normal was and only made a bigger fool of himself. But he was told so many times over that he was too average, too normal. He blended so much he might as well have not been there. Even achieving straight A’s didn’t help, only made it worse. Veni hadn’t realised before, but sometimes being intelligent could backfire, and it did. Horribly. The onslaught of bullying began early 9th grade, and it would have continued through the next few years if he hadn’t done what he did.

Veni shook his head, clearing the intrusive thoughts from his brain. There was no point in dwelling upon the past, he could only look forward now, both metaphorically and literally.

“No point thinking about it now. Gotta keep moving.”

Sighing, Veni kept walking, counting the number of things he saw that creeped him out as he went. He wasn’t sure how he had gotten into the habit of counting spooky things, but it kept him sane at least.

“One pair of demon eyes, two large snakes. Three spider webs hanging off a cake.”

It soon turned into an unspoken challenge to himself to make a song out of it. Veni stopped trying though because the screeching he was trying to pass as singing appeared to be pissing off the Exsidoania and Fraonia living here. Exsidoania is what you would call a ghost trapped on earth, in his world at least. Most latch on to one place or person and don’t leave, others take to being as annoying and whiny as possible. Fraonia is a name used for demons or those similar. They are typically quite violent but tend to stay away from living people, unlike their counterparts the Angonia, angels, who love to observe and intervene in human life. They may be angels but they sure are a nosy bunch. Anyhow, if he hadn’t of stopped, they might have clawed his eyes out or ripped off a limb.

Being honest though, Veni didn’t know why they hadn’t already gotten rid of him. Clearly, he ticked them off just by existing near them. Call him a coward all you want, but there was no way he was going closer than 10 feet to them. He didn’t really feel like losing his vision, not until he figured out why he was in this place anyway. Veni had come up with multiple theories focusing on the existence of that place, yet none of them quite fit properly. He never had confidence in the existence of some higher power, always choosing to just go along with what his parents told him. They were times where he fantasised about some grand afterlife with some god watching over it. It was always one of the Greek gods he pictured there. Maybe he wanted to go to some Olympus-like place and so his imagination filled in the gaps with Greek mythology. It didn’t matter though, his parents declared him Christian and so Christian he was.

Veni first held the belief it was all some nightmare he was having, that he would eventually wake up in his warm bed at home. The promising smell of pancakes wafting up the stairs to his room as his two brothers continued an argument they started days before. Veni really tried to believe it. He really did. But nothing could change that he always opened his eyes to a vast expanse of absolutely nothing, rather than the badly painted ceiling he called a mural.

Yeah, he sketched on his ceiling, but what else was he supposed to do? His room was incredibly bland, plus his father was a painter at one point. Have to follow in someone’s footsteps after all, and the family had a ton of art supplies lying around not really benefiting anyone so no one would need to know.

He took them without permission, yeah, but honestly, who was going to miss them? That’s how he found himself standing precariously on the edge of his bed, neck craned up towards the roof. It hurt to keep his head in the position for so long, but it was the only way to get a good view of what he was doing, so he didn’t really care.

_(The pain wasn’t that bad anyway, it dulled after a while. He didn’t think much of himself usually, so he thought he deserved it for whatever stupid reason.)_

The things he sketched out on his ceiling never really had a shape to begin with. It took a while for him to figure out what it was that he had created. It was everything and nothing at the same time. A plate of cookies, a piano, his brothers. Anything you could imagine Veni would be able to point out without hesitation.

His favourite was definitely the night sky he had painted across the area parallel to his bed. He spent hours on it, gazing up at the real sky for inspiration and looking to other artists for help. He never let anyone into his room once he began to paint that one. He didn’t want anyone else to be able to enjoy it, it was his and his alone to stare at.

Well, that’s not entirely true. He did once let his brothers in so their parents wouldn’t be able to find them. Both of them were scared, but his dark sky had somehow managed to lighten their day, if only for a moment.

That’s the memory he stared into now, unblinking as if he were afraid the pool wouldn’t be there if he looked away for even a split second. He wanted to hug them, to hold them tight and never let go. He may have only been the middle child, but he found himself taking the older brother role more and more as the years went on. Veni had told the actual oldest who knows how many times that he wasn’t going to be able to take care of them forever, he just looked at him knowingly. Veni didn’t like when he looked at him like that.

*******

Veni had never truly understood the jobs given to those beings of heaven and hell. He always told himself it was because he wasn’t religious, but that never satisfied him. Something was missing, he would say. Something important. Does it even really matter? From where he stood, he couldn’t say it did. He’d find out within minutes the answers he searched so desperately for if he simply took one step forward. If he simply took the plunge fully into the darkness ahead.

Looking back at his life, he knew the correct answer was to continue onwards, there was no coming back from what he did. He couldn’t find it in him to open to the first chapter of the book that followed the pages of his life despite that. Not that he could even be sure he’d have a life to return to, with how long it’s been, or how long he thinks it’s been.

He once was certain what time it was there, wherever there was, but now he wasn’t sure. Days, weeks. Maybe months. At this point, the concept of time no longer existed to him. Perhaps it’s been years, or maybe it’s only been an hour. Veni couldn’t decide which was worse to think about, so he moved his train of thought to another topic.

He also wasn’t sure if his eyes were getting used to the darkness or if this place was brightening as he moved forward. Veni figured it was just him (he didn’t want to give himself false hope), but he couldn’t be sure. So, he followed where he thought the light could be coming from. Straight ahead he walked for what possibly could have been years, his eyes felt like they were on fire now but at least he knew it really was getting brighter.

The tress thinned and thinned, gravestones that he used to have to weave through now sparse. Ahead of him, light shined through the final line of oaks. He forgot being calm and rushed forward. The lights looked like they were from a city nearby.

Breaking the treeline, he stood on a large hill overlooking what was a town of some sort. The houses were aligned in a very symmetrical way, both sides of the street sporting a two-storied then one-storied pattern. That, however, is both where the only organised thing began and ended. Each house was a multitude of different colours and shades, with oddly shaped rooves and windows placed askew on each wall. It looked like if Picasso did to a house what he’d done to faces. Veni was both relieved and mortified at the sight of the buildings, only just realising a moment too late that each person wandering the town were walking highlighters with the most positive personalities ever.

Veni didn’t mind though, it felt just like primary school. Everyone shines all bright and colourful in the sun while he was left in the greys and blacks of their shadows. He always faded into the background; it didn’t matter what he did.

_(It also reminded him of his older brother, Allister. He never knew how bright someone could be until he got close to him. Alli was positive, bright, happy, and loyal. If he had to, he’d take a bullet for someone he cared about any day. If there really was some grand heaven-like place, he knew that’s exactly where Alli would go when he passed on without a doubt. Veni hoped Allister was alright and managing to take care of their other brother okay. Veni on the other hand…)_

Veni could have cried in relief, finally something with colour. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards it, silently hoping for someone to talk to, even if their clothes burned his eyes just looking in their general direction.

*******

Veni wandered into the town not really expecting much, he had put the idea in his head that everyone would immediately hate him like in high school, but he found himself pleasantly surprised from the lack of yelling. Or well, the lack of literally anything.

Despite its outward appearance, the town was quite nice to be in. He couldn’t see any townsfolk, maybe there was some kind of curfew? Veni had overheard his younger brother talking about a friend he had who moved to a place where everyone living there had to be inside by a certain time, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. But it seemed rather early, though then again there wasn’t a sky or a convenient clock he could use to tell, so he guessed it didn’t matter. He had seen someone earlier before he walked down, but maybe they were on their way home?

Veni pushed the oddity of it to the back of his mind. He was finally in a town, and the first order of business was to find a pair of shoes.

He searched for what felt like hours for some kind of clothing store, but every building looked the same and the bright colours were starting to hurt his eyes. So, he decided to steal some clothes off of a clothing line. Sure, he felt bad doing it, but the one he chose didn’t look like it had been touched in years. He shook the clothes free of the spiders and pulled them on. Thankfully, he had managed to find a black trench coat and a pair of ripped jeans. Luckily as well, a convenient pair of combat boots appeared as well. Kidding, but that would have been funny right? Veni actually had to break into someone’s house to get them. Fortunately, someone he used to be friends with showed him how to pick locks, so it was a breeze to get in. Veni did almost get caught by the house’s owner, but a whack to the back of the head took care of him.

He didn’t question why they were the only black thing the man had owned or why the man was carrying a dagger, nor did he care. Shoes were shoes, and he really didn’t want to cut his feet any further by stepping on that damn grass again, he still had no clue as to why the grass blades had felt like actual blades, but whatever. He needed some kind of weapon. Better to be safe than sorry later in case he got threatened, plus it was really pretty to look at, so he tucked it away into an inside pocket of the trench coat.

Next on his list of things to was going straight to the bar for a drink. He genuinely doubted anyone here would question him if he said he was 18, even though he wasn’t, and besides, he didn’t have to order alcohol.

It took him a few minutes to find the bar amongst the colourful buildings, but eventually, he saw it nestled away in a dark corner. It almost blended in with the inky blacks of the landscape, making it seem as if it were separate to the town. He shrugged it off, it just meant he’d probably fit in better with the occupants.

He entered slowly, quickly scanning the bar for other people. Unsurprisingly, there were very few people. Veni walked quickly to a corner seat, ignoring the slightly horrified looks he was given as he passed people, and sat down with his back against the wall. After giving the place one more look over, he sighed softly and picked up the menu that was sitting innocently in the middle of the table. Veni flipped through the pages slowly, trying to spot something he recognised. Unfortunately, it appeared everything on the menu was in Latin. He was a little rusty with the language as he hadn’t taken a class for it in a while but managed to read it okay.

He hummed softly in shock at the sight of his favourite drink scribed beneath the beverage subtitle. Veni hated smiling and only ever did to cheer up his brothers, but he felt like this discovery was worth it. He looked up at glanced around for a waiter, ad when he didn’t spot one, stood up and gradually made his way over to the women behind the counter that sat in the middle of the room.

“E-excuse me? Miss?”

Veni cursed himself mentally for stuttering.

“Whatcha need?”

Well, that’s a strong accent, it sounded almost like she was from New Jersey. He chose to ignore it and focus more on the fact that the entire menu was in Latin, yet she spoke fluent English. She was unusually tall and had light brown skin. Her hair was tied into lots of little braids that she had pulled back into a ponytail and tied with a bright pink scrunchie that matched the colour of her long nails.

“This drink- “

“Coming right up, kiddo.”

She didn’t look up from the cup she was polishing the whole conversation, and yet somehow knew exactly what drink he wanted. Strange.

“Here you go, the _‘Praestrictus Mocha’_ , today's special.”

Veni could’ve down the whole thing in seconds if he felt like it, but iced mochas deserved to be savoured.

“Thank you, Miss…?”

He never usually cared about other people’s names, mostly because no one ever cared to learn his, but she seemed nice enough.

“Caeruleum-Grace, but you can just call me Grace. And don’t you worry about paying, it’s on me. No one ever asks my name anymore these days. So, it’s my way of saying thanks for caring.”

“Ah, thank you. I guess I should introduce myself as well then. I’m Veni.”

“We know.”

“What do you mean, ‘we know’- “

“So, what’s a human like you doing here?”

That’s an odd question. Isn’t Grace human? And if not, then what the hell is she? It had to have been a joke, right? Also, rude much? Who interrupts people when they’re in the middle of speaking without meaning to?

“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“Oh? Perhaps I have it wrong then. Anyway, would you like anything else to drink? You finished that one quite slowly, but I can tell you're rather thirsty. You must have walked such a long way.”

He looked down at his cup, not before realising how quickly he finished it. This lady was strange, very strange. But Veni supposed he didn’t really mind too much. Maybe asking him if he was human was a metaphor for something? Like, maybe no one in the town was mentally stable enough to be considered human? Veni’s lips quirked up a bit at that thought. It would make sense with their awful clothing choices.

“Ah no, I’m good. I suppose I should leave now. Thank you for the drink, Miss Grace.”

Veni stood up as he pushed the now empty cup towards her and tried not to make it obvious how quickly he was shuffling out the door. Once he got one foot outside, he took off as fast as possible towards the forest.

“Well, that was an experience.”

Veni wasn’t entirely sure what the hell she was talking about, but he decided to add it to his list of things not too question, alongside the random trench coat and boots he found.

Once he reached the forest again, he made the decision to sleep in a tree nearest the town but hidden by the branches and leaves. He took a couple of minutes to safely climb the tree and lay down on the bark. It was softer than expected.

Veni could feel his exhaustion finally tugging at his eyes and realised that he hadn’t slept properly since he arrived in this world. He hoped he would dream this time, wishing quietly that he would see images of his brothers floating around in his head as he slipped off to sleep.

Veni didn’t end up dreaming, but he found he was happy anyway. And if he smiled in his sleep, well no one else was there to see it. He found that when he woke up though, He wasn’t in the tree anymore and noticed two things.

One; he was in a soft bed now and two; Grace was looming over him, smirking.

“Hello there, little human. Finally awake, huh?”

Oh, what the hell.

_**(3,857 Words)** _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. Most chapters should be about this length, so by the end of the story it'll be novel length.


End file.
